Fun Fall Family Crafts!

For many families, sitting down and doing crafts with the kids is an ongoing activity, but finding new stuff to do that is fun, easy, and right for different age groups isn’t always easy.

We’ve scoured the Internet to find a few great family crafts for fall. They range in ease of execution (and appropriate age for certain aspects of the crafts). And they make use of fall colors, textures, and nature’s bounty, with a few spooky Halloween-themed crafts thrown in for fun.

Candy Corn Centerpiece

Perfect if you’re having a special dinner around Halloween or simply want an elegant yet fun display during this time of year, this centerpiece is so easy to put together, your kids might even be able to do it without you—although we don’t recommend it since all the candy might “accidentally” disappear if you’re not around.

To make it, pour some candy corn into a hurricane or glass vase, then place Ghost Peeps on top around the perimeter. Pour in some more candy corn to fill the inside and extend over the Peeps. The, top with flowers in coordinating colors – here they’ve used yellow daisies, orange spray roses, and white carnations.

Check out B Lovely Events for a bunch of other cool ways to use candy corn decoratively.

This simple project will have your kids feeling like master artists. Collect a few pinecones and gather up five colors of felt.

Cut two different colors for eyes – one color larger than the others – a triangle for the beak, a mask for the eyes and beak to stick to, and two long pointed oval shapes for the wings. See Whimsy Love for exact size recommendations and other tips. Attach all the felt to the pinecone with hot glue, add googly eyes, and voila: a super cute craft your kids will love.

The easiest Halloween décor you can imagine, you may not even need to buy any materials for this Milk Jug Pumpkin. Grab a couple of empty milk jugs, draw a pumpkin face with permanent marker, using a utility knife to cut holes in the eyes, and drop in low-watt cordless holiday lights.

This unique craft requires only three items, all of which you probably have hanging around your house if you have kids: brown paper bags, coffee filters, and watercolor paints.

First, paint the coffee filters with the watercolor paints in the colors of your choice. Once dry, cut out leaf shapes. The tree is formed from the paper bag.

Then, cut strips along the long sides of the bag, leaving the bottom of the bag intact. Next, open up the bag and start “twisting at the base to form the trunk of the tree,” said BlogHer “Separate the strands to form the branches and continue twisting them into shape.”

Use a hot glue gun (or white glue if the kids will be doing the gluing) to connect the coffee filter leaves to the paper bag tree branches. The finished product is something they’ll be proud to display in your home.

These might not be right for little ones who you’re not ready to introduce to fire, but for bigger kids, this quick and easy craft makes a pretty and fragrant display. All you need is a pillar candle and a handful of cinnamon sticks. Line the cinnamon sticks up around the candle – you’ll need a couple of hands to do this—and then fasten by wrapping twine around a few times and tying in a bow.

Not only are these fun to collect—we’re imagining a family nature walk foraging for acorns—and to make, but they can also be displayed year-round in a bowl or hurricane.

To make the acorn cap jewels, color the insides with markers and then place in an egg crate or something else that will hold them steady while they dry, like rice, beans, or Play-Doh. Then fill each cap with white glue like Elmers, allowing the color from the markers to seep through. They’ll need about 48 hours to dry, after which they’ll look “like vibrant, shining jewels,” said Kiwi Crate.